Chiefs prevail against sloppy Jaguars despite stagnant offense

Nick Foles’ first throw Sunday was gorgeous. An absolute dime — thrown with touch — 23 yards downfield to tight end Travis Kelce, who caught the fade ball over a defender down the sideline to prompt cheers and nods throughout Arrowhead Stadium.

Thing is, it was the prettiest throw Foles — who made his first start as a Chief in relief of injured starting quarterback Alex Smith — made all day. He completed 20 of 33 passes for 187 yards, sprinkling in some errant throws while struggling to consistently get the ball out quickly.

In a way, his performance against the Jacksonville Jaguars was fitting. Like Foles, the Chiefs — who held on against the sloppy Jaguars for a 19-14 win — were good enough to prevail … but they did not look their best, not in the least bit.

“There’s throws I should have hit and different looks I should have capitalized on,” said Foles, who was pressured eight times Sunday, at least in part because he held the ball too long.

And for a team with Super Bowl aspirations, as their 6-2 record would attest, the Chiefs’ overall performance was not good enough. Not even close.

“A lot of our wounds were self-inflicted,” inside linebacker Derrick Johnson said. We made a lot of mistakes today.”

Like missed tackles on defense, for instance, or spotty gap discipline. And that was just the run defense, which yielded 205 yards in 32 carries — an average of 6.4 yards per run — to the league’s 30th-ranked rushing offense.

However, a knack for creating turnovers helped the Chiefs — who won the turnover battle 4-0 on Sunday and now lead the NFL in turnover margin at plus-13 — overcome that.

And against the Jaguars, the Chiefs needed every single one of them. A largely-stagnant offense that gained all of 231 yards, including a measly 62 on the ground, struggled without its top quarterback (Smith), running back (Spencer Ware) and receiver (Jeremy Maclin, who left early because of a groin injury).

Yet, they still won, and for that, the Chiefs deserve credit. But the Jaguars have a losing record for a reason, and they also did a nice job of beating themselves, something that started in the first quarter, when D.J. Alexander stripped Jaguars punt returner Bryan Walters, giving the Chiefs the ball at the Jaguars’ 23.

A few plays later, Foles found receiver Albert Wilson — who was curiously in one-on-one coverage by a linebacker — on a vertical for a 23-yard touchdown that put the Chiefs ahead 7-0.

“I tried to lay it over him to get the safety out of the play, and Albert made a great play,” Foles said.

The Jaguars’ next drive died when an open receiver dropped a pass on fourth and 1, and Blake Bortles continued the Jaguars’ charitable mood by throwing an interception right to inside linebacker Ramik Wilson, which led to a field goal that put the Chiefs ahead 10-0 early in the second quarter.

Jacksonville cut that lead to three by halftime, courtesy of a 1-yard strike from Bortles to receiver Allen Robinson, but a strip of running back T.J. Yeldon by Phillip Gaines to open the third quarter led to the first of two field goals by kicker Cairo Santos in the quarter that helped stake the Chiefs to a 16-7 lead entering the fourth quarter.

That seemed like it would be enough, especially as Bortles — who completed only 22 of 41 passes for 252 yards — continued his erratic ways, which no doubt were fueled by a Chiefs defense that racked up two sacks (both by Dee Ford, who now has nine) and six quarterback pressures.

But that’s when a silly penalty by tight end Travis Kelce threatened it all. With the Chiefs in the red zone and threatening to score, Kelce, who was upset with a pass-interference no-call, yelled and gestured toward two referees before walking back to the huddle.

Once he turned his back, one of the referees threw a flag at Kelce for unsportsmanlike conduct, prompting an enraged Kelce to turn back toward the referee and fire what appeared to be a towel his way. That prompted a second unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty and an ejection, and the Chiefs — who were already without Smith, Ware and Maclin — were now without their second-best receiving threat.

Fortunately for Kelce, the Chiefs’ coaching staff — and Santos — had his back. They dialed up a smart screen to Charcandrick West on third and 34, and West gained 24 yards, helping the Chiefs get back into field-goal range. Santos converted from 36 yards to put the Chiefs ahead 19-7.

The Jaguars threatened to seize momentum when receiver Marqise Lee got behind cornerback Marcus Peters for a 51-yard gain that gave the Jaguars the ball at the Chiefs’ 3, but the Jaguars’ Chris Ivory was stripped across the goal line by defensive tackle Jaye Howard, and Peters recovered it to save the day. Peters celebrated by enthusiastically punting the ball into the stands, which — along with Kelce’s actions — drew the ire of Chiefs coach Andy Reid afterward.

“I’m disappointed with our discpline out there,” said Reid, who said afterward that both matters had been “addressed.”

After yet another Chiefs drive came up empty, the Jaguars finally scored, courtesy of a 13-yard toss from Bortles to Yeldon. And after another Chiefs drive stalled, the Jaguars got the ball back at their 35 with approximately three minutes left.

At that point, the Jaguars only needed a touchdown to take the lead and shock the Chiefs.

But the defense stepped up again. Dontari Poe got a big third-and-1 run stuff in Chiefs territory, and Steven Nelson broke up the fourth-down pass to force a turnover on downs and essentially clinch a hard-earned, but not necessarily well-played, win before a looming road test against the defending NFC champion Carolina Panthers next Sunday.

“We’ll have to be better,” Reid said. “Our guys know that — they know. They didn’t have their best game.”

This story was originally published November 6, 2016 at 3:49 PM with the headline "Chiefs prevail against sloppy Jaguars despite stagnant offense."